HONG KONG— The Hong Kong Internet tycoon Richard Li has made headlines as an Asian technology wizard whose career merited comparison with that of Bill Gates.

As recently as midday Tuesday, a short biography on his company's Web site said that he had "graduated from Stanford University with a degree in computer engineering."

But by late Tuesday afternoon, following a query from the International Herald Tribune about Mr. Li's Stanford record, that detail had disappeared from the Web site of Pacific Century CyberWorks, the company he founded.

Which raises the question: Did this high-flying businessman allow his company to disseminate a résumé containing what, in the lingo of the financial markets, might be called a "bubble"?

Mr. Li and his company are not commenting, so it is hard to be sure. But here is a summary of the facts in this curious tale of the degree that disappeared:

Since 1992, press articles have mentioned Mr. Li's degree from the prestigious California campus. Typical is a Feb. 19, 2000, reference in The Economist to his "degree in computer engineering from Stanford University."

But when contacted this past week, three employees of Stanford said separately that Richard Tzar Kai Li had attended the university in the 1980s but did not receive a degree.

"He is not a Stanford graduate; there was no degree conferred," a staffer at the registrar's office said. This Stanford official said later that Mr. Li's academic records were being kept private at his request, and the university declined to disclose further information about him.

There is no evidence that Mr. Li himself has claimed to hold a degree from Stanford, nor has the assertion appeared in documents filed by his companies with securities regulators.

Mr. Li's company has been among the most visible symbols of Asia's technology boom — and its recent bust. In the two years since it was founded, the company surged and became Hong Kong's seventh-largest in terms of market capitalization. Last year, Mr. Li used that soaring stock to orchestrate a $38 billion deal to acquire HKT, Hong Kong's dominant telecom company, from Cable & Wireless of Britain. His company now has 14,000 employees in 18 countries, providing Internet and telecommunications services.

Mr. Li's supporters said the HKT deal proved his ability to thrive independently of his father, the influential billionaire businessman Li Ka-shing.

But the collapse of the Internet bubble has hit Mr. Li's company hard. Its stock has tumbled and angry shareholders in Hong Kong have made Mr. Li a target for criticism. A few bombs have even gone off in his telephone company's phone booths around Hong Kong.

Pacific Century CyberWorks executives have not responded in detail to questions about Mr. Li's educational background. Following two days of queries by the IHT, company executives declined to confirm or deny whether he received a Stanford degree.

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In a statement faxed Tuesday, Pacific Century CyberWorks' general counsel, Donald Hess, contended that "the release of Mr. Li's academic record without his consent would be a breach of the United States Family Education Rights and Privacy Act and Mr. Li's right to privacy."

That act bars the disclosure of sensitive academic information, but several legal experts said they were surprised by the claim that it would prevent the disclosure of whether someone had graduated from a university, which is a routine question in employment background checks.

Stanford has its own policy that allows students to request that the university not disclose certain information about them that would normally be public. That apparently happened in Mr. Li's case.

Pacific Century CyberWorks has circulated the assertion that Mr. Li is a Stanford graduate. One example came last August at a press conference finalizing his company's merger with HKT.

Documents distributed to journalists at the Aug. 17 press conference asserted that Mr. Li "graduated from Stanford University with a degree in computer engineering." An electronic version of the text has been available on both the Business Wire and PR Newswire press release distribution services.

The assertion of the Stanford degree was also made in a packet of information sent last week by the company to assist this journalist in writing a profile about Mr. Li. The one-page biographical statement affirmed that Mr. Li: "was educated in the U.S. and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in computer engineering."

Published references to Mr. Li's holding a degree from Stanford go back at least to a 1992 article by The Associated Press that refers to Mr. Li as a "brash 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University." Subsequent printed references to a Stanford degree have appeared in numerous publications including this newspaper, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Forbes, Time, Asiaweek and The Daily Telegraph.

Mr. Li's student days in the United States have been described favorably in profiles of him. The articles often recount that, despite being a billionaire's son, Mr. Li received an allowance so meager that he was forced to work shifts at McDonald's and caddy at a golf club.

Even though he owned a condominium, published accounts have said, Mr. Li insisted on living the life of a normal student in the dormitory.

During his ascent in the business world, Mr. Li has consistently sought to step out from the shadow of his prominent father. Mr. Li senior is Hong Kong's best known tycoon and one of Asia's wealthiest and most influential businessmen.

As investor confidence waned in Pacific Century CyberWorks, however, Mr. Li sought refuge with his father, dining with him at a highly publicized lunch in Hong Kong. Shares of the company rose following the encounter.